LAGRANGE PARK -- In his own high school playing days, Sean Wesley was a hard-driving, quick-footed forward for Bolingbrook’s successful 1990s teams of coach Jim Paskiewicz.

Now the head coach at Benet, Wesley’s never-quit attitude as a player is rubbing off on his 2017 Redwings squad.

After starting the fall with a 1-6-1 record and just five goals in that span, the Redwings have reversed course. Monday’s 7-0 win at Nazareth gave Benet (4-6-1, 3-1-0) an impressive East Suburban Catholic Conference run with three shutout wins in a row by a combined 13-0 scoring margin.

“We’ve been more attack-minded and more dangerous in the final third for sure,” Wesley said of his team’s recent surge, “but really I credit the senior class.

“(The season) starts off bad, it’s going sour, and they came to work every day. Practice didn’t change -- if anything I think there was more resolve in guys like Nick Trakszelis, and Danny Smith and (goalkeeper) Brian Gould in the back.

“No one really put their head down and said ‘Woe is us; it’s going to be a horrible senior year,’” Wesley added. “Instead we always thought we could turn this thing around and get it moving in the right direction.”

A 1-0 win over perennial power Carmel last week really started the Redwings flying. Then at Nazareth, it didn’t take long for the momentum to continue.

Just 1:19 into Monday’s match, Jason Rowaiye took a Jon Mitra throw-in and raced up the right sideline. Rowaiye drew defenders on his rush and sent a perfect low cross to Trakszelis in front for an open net putaway and an instant 1-0 lead.

“Before the game coach told us to focus on putting shots on net, and that’s what our attacking guys did very well,” Rowaiye said. “We put a lot of shots on goal. We pressured the goalie from very early-on, and that led to a lot of goals for us.”

Rowaiye put the Redwings up 2-0 in the 13th minute, a 6-yard touch putaway of a perfect Tom Miskin send to the crease from 25 yards. His game-deciding early plays earned Rowaiye Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors.

“Jason had the best game he’s had this year without a doubt,” Wesley said. “He was dangerous, creating good chances right from the start. He had goals and assists right away.”

With game time temperatures at 90 degrees, the Redwings wanted to quickly turn up the heat even more.

“Obviously it was really hot and that affected (the game),” Benet senior Artur Pach said. “But a huge focus for us was coming out strong, getting goals and going forward – especially for me, Trakszelis, Nick Renfro and Jason, and I think we succeeded really well at that.”

Said Wesley: “That (early lead) changed the game, especially in this heat, on turf. To put them down early didn’t give them much hope, then to keep attacking like we did -- we made it dangerous. We had a lot of stuff on frame today. That always helps.”

The Redwings were relentless.

Nine minutes in, Franklin Rutkowski made a midfield steal and raced in left, only to have his 10-yard shot stopped and covered by diving Nazareth goalkeeper Nick Rozmus.

Then off a Mitra throw-in in the 11th minute, Rowaiye raced in again on the right side but had his low 12-yard try deflected just wide by a diving Rozmus.

Those two plays summed up the match – waves of huge Benet chances, either successful or denied by goalkeeper acrobatics.

“Nick’s put in a lot of hard work,” said Roadrunners first-year coach Alex Wilkinson. The 2011 Nazareth graduate is one of the state’s youngest head soccer coaches. “He’s a sophomore who didn’t see any time on varsity last year, and he worked all winter and summer.

“He even stopped a PK today (in the second half), He’s just nonstop building his confidence up. It could have easily been 10 or 11 (Benet goals).

“But this is the second out of three games where they (an opponent) scored in the first minute and a half,” Wilkinson added. “It’s all about how you come out.”

Shortly after Rowaiye put Benet up 2-0, a successful day definitely wasn’t in the cards for Nazareth.

Rozmus came up big again with 20:40 left in the half, getting a hand on Trakzelis’ 20-yard blast off a Nick Renfro pass that somehow deflected off the crossbar and straight down – never crossing the goal line.

But any change in luck was brief. A Nazareth red card two minutes later left the Roadrunners one player short the rest of the match, and the already swarming Benet offense stung again twice late in the half to go into the break up 4-0.

Great teamwork put the Redwings ahead 3-0 in the 28th minute. Off initial passes by Mitra and Rutkowski, Will Benish and Tiarnan Gallagher drove upfield. Gallagher then found Pach, whose 15-yard drive inside the far post found the back of the net.

Then just 2:56 before halftime, Hans Haenicke was tripped on a drive into the box. Haenicke buried the ensuing penalty kick, and the lead was 4-0.

Second half goals by Anthony Klos, Renfro and C.J. Warren gave the Redwings seven different goal scorers in the match. But Rowaiye and two teammates were particular catalysts on the huge offensive day.

“Trakszelis played very well, and Franklin Rutkowski is a difference-maker,” Wesley said. “He’s able to break teams down and almost always beats the first guy, which draws people to him. He’s unselfish, and he wants to distribute. So when he’s on we’re better.

“If Jason can take some of the pressure off guys like Trakszelis and Franklin, that opens up the game. And I think that’s what we saw. Then you stop looking at Frank for a few minutes, and he’s doing something dangerous.”

Benet’s defense took center stage in the 1-0 win over Carmel on Friday, and had its big moments Monday.

The biggest came 10:20 before halftime with the Redwings up 3-0. Nazareth striker Ty Guinn drove a high 22-yarder seemingly destined for the net, but Benet goalkeeper Gould responded with a leaping deflection over the crossbar.

“They had a great shot in the first half when the game’s still up in the air,” Wesley said, “and Brian Gould makes a monster save in a game where he could have fallen asleep on that. To come up big like that is encouraging.”

Big chances like that for the hosts were few -- Benet’s defense earned its third-straight shutout.

“I thought the defense was working a lot better,” Mitra said. “We’ve found out how to work well with each other, work to each others’ strengths. We’ve gotten a couple shutouts the last few games and are playing really well together.

“We’ve really worked on communicating with each other, the crispness of our passes and on winning 50-50 headers.”

The offense continued to excel in the second half – although Rozmus made added goals difficult.

Benet went up 5-0 with 22:24 to play, but needed second effort. Off a Warren 20-yard free kick headed to the crease by Jason Byrne, Klos’ initial 6-yard shot was stopped by Rozmus. But Klos put away the rebound into an open right side of the net.

Then two minutes later, a long send by Benet’s Joel Wanta to Chris Mankowski in right, a nice Mankowski cross, and a Renfro header putaway in front upped the lead to 6-0.

“They just played like they wanted to win,” Wilkinson said of Benet. “They came out from the get-go, moved the ball quick, and I think it just caught us off guard. Then after we got the red card, guys kind of shut down. Being down goals and then getting a player knocked off (the field) doesn’t help.”

Wilkinson is being assisted by former longtime Oak Park and River Forest coach Doug Hunt, who was also his head coach at Nazareth six years ago.

“My freshman year we had a similar start, 5-14, and by my junior year we won our first regional championship,” Wilkinson said. “I know how the road is (to success), where you have to start and where you need to go.”

Though the game marked Benet’s best scoring output of the season, Nazareth goalkeeper Rozmus did not make it easy.

He made a diving save of a Benish penalty kick with 11:35 left, and also came up big from the flow of play with late saves on Gallagher (a 6-yard midair redirect of a Mitra cross) and Benish (diving stop of a low 25-yard drive).

But Benet bookended its fast start to the day with an offensive finish. After Rozmus made a diving stop on Ryan Tomecek, Warren powered home the rebound from 18 yards with five seconds left to cap the 7-0 Benet win.

“We still have things to work on, still improvement to be made,” Wesley said. “But when you can come out and score that many goals in a game and limit their chances to almost none, something’s going right.”

Strong offensive play from many Redwings was a huge positive.

“We don’t have a natural goal scorer on our team -- that’s what we were hoping for at the beginning of the year,” Wesley said. “But I think guys like Artur Pach, Nick and Jason are taking more of that responsibility, knowing everyone has to create their own chances.

“We don’t have a Ben Kelly who’s going to do that for us this year. So if we can continue to play with a kind of team dynamic with a lot of guys looking to get on the end of things, we’re going to be good.”

Not far removed from a dreary mid-September rut, things are suddenly looking up for Benet.

“We’re definitely in a really good mood now and want to keep the streak going and work hard,” Pach said, “We had a shaky start to the season, but I think we’ve really found our footing and our place. So we want to keep improving and keep the streak going.”

Benet will have that chance at ESCC points leader Marist on Wednesday night.